'Tis the season -- voting season. Once again we will be going to the polls next Saturday to elect this local judge and that local representative and vote on amendments to the state constitution because our legislature is too chicken to take a stand on this stuff and so wants to blame the voters for what happens or does not happen.

We also have a State Treasurer to elect, and the polls say there is no one front runner right now so we will probably have a run off election in November or early December, whenever it is. At least these smaller elections are not nearly as annoying as the major PITA we go through for two years out of every four.

Boudreaux be done talkin' to his frien' Trosclair, who be runnin' fo' de council. He ax, "Trosclair, does you keep up wit' dem dere polls to see if you be goin' to win?"

An' Trosclair say, "When I wants to see how I be doin', I go to Pierre to get a shave an' a trim."

An' Boudreaux ax, "What you fin' out dat way?"

An' Trosclair say, "Mais, ever'body tell de barber who he be votin' for, so I call dat goin' to check de Barber Poll, an' he allus be right!"

Today is:

Air Force Day -- India

American Touch Tag Day -- go outside and remember how much fun it is to play tag

Burgoo Festival -- North Utica, IL, US (only the Burgoomeister knows the secret recipe! enjoy the burgoo, as well as music, food, antiques, and more)

Cephalopod Awareness Days: Octopus Day -- celebrating the most intelligent invertebrates in the world; today, celebrate all the eight-armed species

Warai Matsuri -- Kawanabe, Wakayama, Japan (a laughing festival, in which wine flows and this place earns its name as one of the happiest places on earth; one legend about the laughter is that one of the spirits of the shrine didn't wake in time for a meeting, and was laughed at, so now everyone laughs)

White Sunday -- Samoa and American Samoa (children wear white to church and run the church services, are served a special meal, and recieve new church clothes for the upcoming year)

Anniversary Today:

Ozzie Nelson marries Harriet Hilliard, 1935

Birthdays Today:

Matt Damon, 1970

Darrell Hammond, 1960

Stephanie Zimbalist, 1956

Bill Elliot, 1955

Sigourney Weaver, 1949

Sarah Purcell, 1948

Chevy Chase, 1943

R. L. Stine, 1943

Jesse Jackson, 1941

Harvey Pekat, 1939

Paul Hogan, 1939

Clodagh Aubry, 1937

Rona Barrett, 1936

Faith Ringgld, 1930

Juan Peron, 1895

Eddie Rickenbacker, 1890

Benito Jerónimo Feijóo y Montenegro, 1676

Heinrich Schutz, 1585

Debuting/Premiering Today:

"Cagney and Lacey"(TV), 1981

"Sugar Babies"(Revue)< 1979

"The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet"(Radio), 1944

"Capricorn Concerto"(Barber Op. 21), 1944

"In the Shadow of the Glen"(Play), 1903

Today in History:

Constantine, Emperor of the Eastern Roman Empire, defeats Licinius, Emperor of the Western Roman Empire, at the Battle of Cibalae, 314

Great standing on the Ugra river, a standoff between the forces of Akhmat Khan, Khan of the Great Horde, and the Grand Duke Ivan III of Russia, which resulted in the retreat of the Tataro-Mongols and eventual disintegration of the Horde, 1480

The supernova "Kepler's Nova" is first sighted, 1604

The Massachusetts Bay Colony forms its first government, 1633

First recorded eruption of Galunggung (volcano of West Java, Indonesia) sends boiling sludge into the valley (this volcano would later erupt at such a time as to cause passenger jets to be damaged and forced into emergency landings), 1822

The first Hawai'ian constitution is proclaimed, 1840

The telegraph line from LA to SF opens, 1860

A gas explosion causes the Peshtigo Fire, in Peshtigo, Wisconsin, which killed between 1,200 and 2,500 people and consumed the entire town of Peshtigo and surrounding forests and several other villages -- the deadliest fire in American history, it covered 1.5 million acres, and occured on the same day as the Great Chicago Fire, 1871

The Great Chicago Fire, which consumed 4 square miles, killed 200, and destroyed the original Emancipation Proclamation, began, 1871

The first women's prison run by women opens at the Indiana Reformatory Institute, 1873